7. The Pass System

The Pass System was instituted during the Northwest Resistance years. It was to be a temporary measure during the events of 1885 to control and monitor Indian people and keep them from joining the Resistance.

Indian people were restricted to their Reserves. If they wanted to leave, they had to get permission from the Indian Agent. An Indian person who was absent from the Reserve without a Pass was classified as a criminal.

Neither the Indian Act nor any other Federal legislation empowered the Department to institute such a system.

The Pass system was still in use in the Treaty 4, 5 and 7 areas as late as the mid 1930's. It was removed from the Indian Act in 1951.